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Google’s latest Daydream VR series puts you in Kendall Jenner’s closet
The latest Google Daydream series will give you a VR look into the closets of supermodels like Kendall Jenner and Cindy Crawford. The series -- aptly called Supermodel Closets -- was made in partnership with Vogue and Condé Nast Entertainment as a build up to the publication's famed September issue and 125th anniversary.
Take a VR trip with Google Expeditions all by yourself
In 2015, Google launched a pilot program of its Expeditions software that let teachers take their students on VR explorations of various sites around the world. A few months later, it released a beta version of its Expeditions app for certain schools to try out, which was then released for anyone to use in June of last year. Today, Google announced that its now releasing a solo mode for the app that makes it easier for users to take tours outside of a classroom setting.
Explore Japanese gaming culture in 360 degrees with MatPat
Matthew Patrick is best known as the guy on YouTube who uses math, science and rabid curiosity to build intense, unexpected narratives from the stray plot threads of movies and video games. As the Game Theorists' MatPat, he asks if Mario is secretly a sociopath and questions if Sega's blue hedgehog really is the fastest mascot in gaming -- and then backs up his allegations by covertly teaching viewers about actual psychology and the speed of sound. Now he's expanding his passion for making entertainment educational with a travel show called The Global Gamer. Oh, and he's doing it in 360-degree virtual reality -- and you can watch the launch exclusively right here on Engadget.
Visit the ISS in virtual reality with an Oculus Rift
Most of us will (sadly) never be able to visit the ISS in person and will have to make do with photos and videos of the orbiting lab. If you have an Oculus Rift, though, you have a far more immersive choice: a true-to-life simulation you can visit in virtual reality. Oculus has teamed up with NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency to create the Mission:ISS VR experience. You can explore the virtual station like you're actually in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), but you can do more than that, as well. So long as you're using an Oculus Touch controller, you can dock incoming spacecraft, go out on spacewalks and even perform mission-critical tasks like a real crew member.
Google's new museum tours bring dinosaurs to life
With Google's help, museums and cultural institutions all over the world have been able to open up their archives to millions of people who wouldn't otherwise get the opportunity to visit. The Art and Culture app combines the best Street View, VR and Photos collections from 1,000 museums, whether they're focusing on famous art pieces or creatures that walked the Earth millions of years ago. Today, the search giant has expanded its collection to include thousands of natural history exhibits, letting you walk (and swim) with dinosaurs and learn more about the worlds that time forgot.
Jaunt's 'cinematic VR' tech will take you around the world
Nothing can compare to seeing the world for yourself, but visiting places through 360-degree virtual reality experiences doesn't sound that bad. Jaunt, the startup that aims to produce a ton of immersive content for everyone's VR devices, has joined forces with a travel agency called Mountain Travel Sobek. They're planning to capture MTS' adventure tours using Jaunt's "cinematic VR" platform to create a series of VR videos. Based on what the agency offers, you can expect to virtually climb mountains, go hiking on the other side of the world and see places of cultural significance you might never see in person.
Google can take you on a VR trip to the Great Barrier Reef
One of Google's more exciting announcements at least year's I/O was Expeditions, a VR kit that let educators lead students on virtual field trips to far flung locales like Mars and the Great Wall of China. Now, you can add two more places to that list: The Great Barrier Reef and Buckingham Palace. The virtual Great Barrier Reef expedition was designed by none other than Sir David Attenborough and produced by Alchemy VR, while the Buckingham Palace tour was made possible thanks to the UK's Royal Collection Trust. There's even a YouTube 360 video of the Palace, so you can easily use your phone to take a private tour of the Queen's art collection.
Navigating Chernobyl in VR is tricky business
A yellow Ferris wheel looms over an abandoned amusement park. A rusty red frame alludes to a carousel that was once on the ground. Decaying bumper cars stand motionless behind fading fences. Sights that evoke a sense of child-like exhilaration have become tragic symbols of the Chernobyl disaster, the largest nuclear accident in history. The decomposing rides and crumbling buildings of Pripyat, the nearest city that was evacuated and turned into a ghost town within days of the explosion at the nuclear power plant, have been documented in hundreds of touristy photographs and amateur video tours. Now a virtual reality documentary wants to bring viewers up, close and personal for an immersive experience of the radioactive region in Northern Ukraine.
